Trifter

Over in Penang, it is all about street food . These tasty delights are sure to tickle the taste buds of all who try it and of course if one isn’t used to it, one might end up with a really ‘heaty’ after effect due to its methods of preparation. These methods include frying with spices, deep frying, and using large amount of chilies. Whatever it is, you may consider cooling the body down with a drink of chrysanthemum tea or Chinese herbal tea after the indulging– but when you’re here, these are the must-eat foods that you must not miss:

• Char Koay Teow – Simply translated as ‘stir-fry’ for char and ‘flat rice noodles’ for koay teow. It’s a typical Chinese dish of which rice noodles are stir-fried together with prawns, Chinese sausage, eggs, lard, chili paste and dark soy sauce – all in a very hot wok. It is the most popular food in Penang – everybody comes here for this.
• Hokkien Mee – Means ‘prawn noodle’. The special thing about this dish is the soup. The noodle used is the typical yellow egg noodles and the soup is made of a meat stock, cooked with chili paste and boiled with the shell of shrimps for several hours, giving it the splendid aromatic, spicy and sweet flavor.
• Wan Than Mee – Wanton noodles, similar to the Hong Kong noodles but slightly different from the ingredients used. Noodles are cooked in hot water, removed and mixed together with black soy sauce, lard and chicken stock. The mix must be a just enough for the noodles to be coated. The noodle is then garnished with slices of pork and wanton.
• Loh bak – Loh bak simply means ‘a gravy dip meat’ – Bak meaning meat and I’m sure you know what the other word means. Everything here is deep fried, from the meat roll itself (the loh bak) , to prawn fritters, bean curd, etc. Pick and choose what you like and it will be deep fried on the spot for you. The dish is served with two gravies. One, a sweet sauce and the other a chili type sauce.
• Satay – It’s a Malay dish of which meat seasoned with turmeric is skewered and cooked over coal. There is also the Chinese version of it but you’ve got to ask around for it. The Chinese Satay has also got the special ‘pork intestine’ which is cooked the same way; seasoned and cooked over coal. The dish is usually served in sticks of 10, together with peanut sauce.
• Oh Chien – Means fried oyster. The word oh which is actually pronounced ohhh means oyster in the Hokkien language. The oyster is cooked in an omelet mixed with starch and topped with a spicy sauce. Really good stuff!

Have a few local friends to bring you to the best hawkers that prepare these dishes. Try them all if you can and hopefully, don’t end up with an upset stomach from all the grease and the spices!